A young carpenter journeys to the German heartland to join his cousin and make his fortune in the guilds of a 1500s free imperial city. While advancing in his craft and forging friendships with his newfound neighbors, the carpenter discovers the wonders of the Renaissance and soon finds himself on the cusp of prosperity and romance that he had never dreamed. Yet as the city begins to celebrate the arrival of Christmas, a shadow falls across the festivities when a provincial sovereign plots to usurp control of the burgeoning metropolis. Suddenly, the city's plans for holiday merrymaking are thrown into turmoil, leaving the carpenter reeling to find his place in the new order. As freedom teeters on a knife's edge, duties are called into question as each guild tries to preserve its place in the new order. Amid the chaos, it is the innocent that are all but forgotten. Yet while the city remains paralyzed in fear, hope springs from the most unlikely of corners and through the smallest of charitable actions. When a child he has come to know is threatened with death and starvation, the carpenter must find the courage and strength to begin a clandestine undertaking to save her life and pave the way through which the city itself might regain its freedom. The carpenter's name, Christopher Kringle.
